News

California’s economy will continue to grow in the coming years but the pace is expected to slow alongside a slowing economy on the national level, according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast, which was released on Sept. 26. Economic growth at the state and national level are expected to weaken in 2020, according to UCLA Anderson […]

Los Angeles has missed the final cut for a U.S. Army procurement center headquarters, according to a media report. Military.com reported on June 19 that Army Col. Patrick Seiber, spokesman for the U.S. Army Futures Command Task Force, confirmed to that publication that five cities were still under consideration for the procurement headquarters: Austin, Texas; […]

Los Angeles County will see moderate job growth of just over 1 percent for the rest of this year, but the median home price will rise as much as 10 percent. . . . The forecast notes that nonfarm employment in Los Angeles County increased by 1.4 percent between February 2017 and February 2018, a […]

Aerospace employment in Los Angeles County dropped by 3,000 jobs, or about 6 percent, to 51,000 between 2014 and 2016, according to a report released Monday from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

Most of the job losses were in aircraft manufacturing, which fell by 2,200, due in part to the closing of Boeing Co.’s Long Beach plant which built the C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane. That resulted in about 400 layoffs at the end of 2015, according to news stories.

The aerospace job losses were partially offset by a gain of 500 jobs in aircraft parts, engines and guided missiles, as well as space vehicles, due to the expansion of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. in Hawthorne.

Canadian behemoth franchisor MTY Food Group Inc. agreed to acquire the franchisors of the Counter and Built upscale burger chain brands for an undisclosed amount, MTY announced today. The company expects the deal to close next month. . . The offices of the two limited liability corporations running the franchises will move to Scottsdale, Ariz., MTY said. MTY’s Kahala Group subsidiary, acquired last year, is also based in Scottsdale. Kahala’s holdings include Pinkberry, Cold Stone Creamery and Baja Fresh, among others.

A labor dispute over the classification of truck drivers who shuttle goods to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has caused at least one local company to lose a Fortune 500 client.

Carson-based Pacific 9 Transportation Inc. no longer counts Costco Wholesale Corp. as a customer as of late August. Alan Ta, chief operating officer of Pacific 9, declined to give specifics but confirmed that Costco is no longer a client.

Toastmasters Chief Executive Daniel Rex, who called the move “deeply emotional,” said the costs of operating in Orange County were a major consideration in the move. The company employs about 180 people. Toastmasters reportedly already has several potential sites in Denver and will likely buy property. “When you look at the availability of workers, when you look at the cost of commerce and real estate, this is something that makes sense,” Rex told the Times. Toastmasters, which aims to help members improve their speaking and leadership skills, was founded in Santa Ana in 1924 and has had its headquarters in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, since 1990

Indeed, hundreds of other Los Angeles County businesses have been hit with similar class-action wage-and-hour lawsuits bolstered by PAGA penalties over the past year. The total includes nearly 300 against businesses in the city of Los Angeles alone, according to figures from Garin Casaleggio, deputy secretary of communications for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the department that oversees PAGA filings. The Private Attorneys General Act essentially deputizes plaintiff employees, allowing them and their attorneys to investigate employer records to scour for more wage-and-hour or meal- and rest-break violations. That can quickly run up the potential tab for alleged violations. The Santa Fe Importers/Marisa Foods case grew to include alleged wage-and-hour violations extending back four years for current and former employees.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together make up the nation’s largest port complex, set new records in cargo movement last month.

The Port of Long Beach had its highest monthly cargo movement in its 106-year history in July, moving 720,312 cargo containers, known as 20-foot-equivalent units or TEUs, up 6.4 percent compared to the same period a year ago. The port beat its previous record set in August 2015.

The state Supreme Court has decided not to take up an appeal of a lower court ruling that Malibu can’t limit chain stores or force major development projects to be put to a vote of the people. The determination filed late Wednesday appeared to mark the end of the road for the beach city’s Measure R ballot measure limiting development, handing a major victory to developers and for a project that would bring a Whole Foods store to the city.

California exporters saw a modest gain in May according to the latest U.S. Census Bureau data. California business exports totaled about $13.5 billion – 1.2 percent increase over the May 2016 total of roughly $13.3 billion.

The L.A. metro area’s median base pay grew 0.5 percent in a one-year period through July 17 to $59,064, below the national average of 1.2 percent, according to a report from jobs website Glassdoor released Tuesday. The figures mark the slowest pace of wage growth in three years, indicating a continued slowdown in pay increases nationally, despite low unemployment and healthy jobs numbers, according to the report that is based on millions of anonymous salary reports shared on Glassdoor.

The funds, to be collected from ratepayers over a five-year period, would increase customers’ electricity bills by up to 0.5 percent. The money would support several programs to promote electric vehicle transportation . . .

A report from the U.S. Census Bureau says millennials are leaving Los Angeles at one of the highest rates in the country, LA Weekly reports. The analysis found that residents between the ages of 18 and 35 decreased by 7.4 percent over the last 10 years, a decrease of 780,000 people, making it the third-worst city for millennial population loss.